COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN SUNDAY & MONDAY, September 13-14, 2009 — Page 5A

Parks: If approved, sales

tax likely source of funding
CONTINUED from page 1A
The park master plan was SOUTHEAST REGIONAL PARK PLAN
developed from opinions gath- The proposed Southeast Regional Park includes
ered at several meetings and A. Perry Philips Park properties and the Gans MAP AREA
public surveys, as well as from Creek Recreation Center. Once completed, the 70
needs identified by the city’s park will be the second largest in Columbia.
overall master plan for parks
63
and recreation. Future road Playground
At the latest meetings, held Shelter
Trail
in December 2008 and Janu-
ary 2009, two options for the Athletic fields Parking
park plan were presented, and Stormwater pond Restroom Concession/Restroom
the city distributed surveys to
residents to learn what they
liked and disliked about each Potential
option. Nifong Park N
Photos by CHELSEA SEKTNAN/Missourian Anthony Lowery, a senior trail connector P
O 1200 FEET
Byron Smith works on a painting he started with his friend Frank Stack in late August parks planner for the city N
D
at Orr Street Studios. ER
who is handling the design of O
the southeast regional park, SA

The eyes behind ‘Seeing Visions’

Multipurpose
ST
said the new plan combines indoor sports Indoor .
the most popular features of complex ice rink
63
the first two options but also

A. PERRY PHILIPS PARK

By SANGEETA SHASTRY includes fresh ideas from the
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com public.
Byron Smith can remember “I’m not sure that we would
hanging out at Cemetery Hill, have come up with an equestri-
a predominantly black neigh- an area at all if it had just been
borhood in Columbia where he us sitting here,” Lowery said.
heard the train traffic at Wabash The main features of the plan
include a multipurpose indoor Philips Lake Connector
Station.
sports complex, an indoor/out- trail to
Gladys Swan, 74, has fond
memories of the Maine woods door water park, an indoor ice future
and one particular “clear and rink, an equestrian area and development
sparkling” stream near Schood- sports fields. Other features
ic Lake, where she summered as include trails, one or more
a child. indoor pavilions, a dog park,
This month, the two friends and hard-surface courts, shelters
artists are sharing personal life and playgrounds.
“It was acknowledged that it Columbia
experiences through their work Byron Smith paints in oils, but his passion lately has PedNet Catholic
at the Orr Street Studios’ recur- been watercolor. “It’s translucent and hard to control; was appropriate to set some of
the park aside for sports fields connection High School
ring event, “Seeing Visions,” that’s what I like about it,” Smith said.
which resumed Tuesday. and more active uses,” said GANS RD.
Smith, 49, was born and raised ana to pursue a project in art and mythology. Parks and Recreation Direc-
Mo. Dept. of
in Columbia. He took his artistic skill to the Swan came to MU in 1987 to teach creative tor Mike Hood. “That’s one of
Conservation
next level when he spent time at MU in 1980. writing and literature. By that time, she had the reasons we purchased the
lease area
Although he never graduated, he took several published two novels and six collections of property and the land in the
classes toward a bachelor’s degree. His life- short stories. Then the vivid descriptions in first place.”
long interest in visual art was inspired by the her written work called her back to the visual Still, the park’s staff has set
evolution of the city. arts. aside 87 acres of the area as a K
“It’s a grand old place to be, but it has “I had been away from painting for a while buffer around Gans Creek and EE
GANS CREEK RECREATION AREA

CR
changed,” he said of Columbia. “I still like the and had a great desire to go back into it,” she a natural preservation area.
Hood said the creek buffer

S
way it looks, but it doesn’t have the inhabit- said. She began taking classes in MU’s art

N
proved popular in surveys.

A
ants from the neighborhood — the little old department in 1992. Potential Fishing

G
ladies that used to come out and talk to you. Swan’s work is based in both her back- “There was a lot of support pond
city wide Dog park
They’re not there anymore.” ground in diverse landscapes and her vivid for protecting the area along trail connector
Smith also has vivid recollections of his imagination. Born in the Bronx, Swan grew Gans Creek,” Hood said. “A lot
grandfather’s farm, experiences such as bal- up in Delaware and New Mexico. of people see Gans Creek as
ing hay, tending to farm animals and living “A lot of my painting has reference to moun- a quality waterway, so there
was strong support to create Natural
on the banks of a river. He incorporates these tains and deserts,” she said. “Both my paint- preservation
images into his work. ing and my writing are in an effort to explore a large natural buffer zone to Stream buffer buffer
“I didn’t even carry around a pencil and what the imagination can reveal.” help protect the stream.”
paper — I wasn’t drawing then — but my Much of her work includes watercolor land- Lowery said he also hopes Potential
imagination was capturing the smells and scapes, but she likes to work in oils. to restore some of the natural Rock Bridge
everything about the farm,” he said. “I can “I like the kind of spontaneity of watercol- habitat on the former Crane State Park
intensify the colors and shapes of the land- ors and letting things run together, and I like property. connector
GANS CREEK RD.

scape by having that experience.” the texture of oils,” Swan explained. “I really “It used to be a working
Event open space
To inform his subject matter, Smith still like color. I like to explore what color and cattle farm, so some of the
studies the outdoors, particularly around form can do.” areas were torn up because
Boonville, McBaine and Rocheport, where She uses geometric shapes with soft edges of cattle crossings,” Lowery
he has family. He also takes part in a figure- in many of her works and experiments with said. “Eventually our guys Equestrian area
drawing session every weekend with former multiple perspectives. In one small watercol- will get in there and do some
MU professor and artist Frank Stack. or, she applies bright green, pink and orange stream restoration. Some of it
Of late, Smith has begun to work with on a sofa and palm tree outside a framed glass is already coming back natu- BONNE FEMME CHURCH RD.
casein, a milk-based water-soluble medium window. Her oils are more subdued, with rally, but we’re looking to help
for paint pigment that dries quickly. darker hues of purple, brown, red and gray. improve the stream.”
In a painting of Gans Creek in Rock Bridge The city is also trying to Source: CITY OF COLUMBIA ANNIE YI-CHIEH LIAO/Missourian
State Park, the casein, mixed with white paint Contributing to culture via art emphasize the park’s natural
and water, creates an illusion of downward The “Seeing Visions” series was the brain- beauty and use resources that This way we can collect it and is open to the public and is
depth in the stream. Tangled branches are child of artist Chris Teeter and Anthony Con- are already there. clean it up before it gets down open to bowhunting for hunters
painted onto a background of yellow paint and nolly, a professor at MU and a writer, on a trip “There was significant sup- into the creek.” who have taken the city bow-
seem to add depth within the canvas. to Sedalia three years ago. The first event port for the idea of maximizing The park remains in the early hunting class.
“I would make up my own world and try to was held in 2006 and since then the series has the use of the lake, and having stages of development, and the “It was added this year for
make mine as appealing to me as possible,” expanded to include film screenings, coffee, the lake become the focal point plan can still be modified to the first time to the deer-hunt-
Smith said of his paintings. wine, art and lively discussion. of that portion of the park. Such reflect public input before it
Tracy Lane, the director of the studio, said ing program,” said Becky Stid-
things as trails shelters, access goes to the City Council for
Outlet for creativity Orr Street Studios is a welcoming place for to the lake via a boat ramp,
ham, management support
final approval. specialists at the department.
Swan has been intrigued by art her entire the event. etc., received strong support,” Lowery said it might be 20
life, but a fear of its impracticality, as well “Intimacy is the word,” she said. “It’s a look Hood said. Lowery added that “But right now that’s the only
years before the park is fully
as a beloved literature professor in college, inside of the artist’s world — you’re not only the plan calls for protecting activity open on the property.”
developed. As it stands, there
pushed her toward writing. in a gallery, you’re in a studio space of 30 art- the lake and creek as much as is no money in place to pay for “That and hiking,” added
“I was interested in painting in high school, ists. You have the opportunity to interact with possible. development. An extension of Lowery.
and I took a painting class as a way of getting them.” “We’ll have detention basins the city’s parks sales tax would The Philips portion of the
out of physical education,” she said, laughing. Swan agrees and said she thinks that the all throughout the area where property is also open to the
be the most likely source.
“But I was hard-pressed to think of earning a relationship between the Columbia public and we will hold the storm water public, and fishing has proved
“If it passes we’ll have money
living in painting.” its artists has grown with The District. collected off the fields,” he to be a popular activity.
to start doing some of the
She received a fellowship from the Lilly “Art contributes to a culture, it civilizes and said. “If you’re going to have a By the end of the year, docks
development,” Lowery said. “If
Endowment in 1975 as a professor at Purdue humanizes it — the more the better,” she said. baseball field or football field, and a parking lot will be added,
it doesn’t pass, it will be a lot
University and used her endowment in Indi- “We need it.” you are going to have to put slower.” with restrooms following soon
down fertilizers and herbicide. Gans Creek Recreation Area after.

Columbia ranked in Streets: ‘Providence’ likely to stay in name

top college towns
By VIRGINIA PASLEY
news@ColumbiaMissourian.com
Columbia is the ninth-best col-
lege town in America, according
to an index that ranks college
locations by, among other non-
traditional criteria, the number
of coffee shops in the area.
The American Institute
of Economic Research has
released its College Destina-
tions Index, a list of the 75 best
college locations in the country.
The institute does not arrive at
these rankings by interviewing
students or visiting classes, but
by studying government docu-
ments that detail the number of
new businesses in the area, for
example.
In addition to observing the
number of coffee shops, the
institute looks at cultural outlets
and how much the city spends
on research and development.
Among “college towns,” or cit-
ies of fewer than 250,000 people,
Columbia was ninth on the list.
No other city in Missouri was
included in any of the rankings.
Ithaca, N.Y., home to Cornell
University and Ithaca College,
was No. 1. Nearby Lawrence,
Kan., was 14.
Lorah Steiner, the executive
director of the Columbia Con-
vention and Visitor Bureau,
reacted positively to the news.
“We love that because it
brings a lot of positive attention
to the community,” she said.
The institute studies sources
such as the U.S. Census in order
to rank the cities by 12 criteria,
including student diversity, cost
of living, earning potential and
unemployment rate.
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Teddy wrote in a report to the
council. “This is an impediment
to efficient emergency service
and general record-keeping.”
Teddy brought the idea to
the council on Aug. 17 and was
advised to prepare an ordinance
that would be first reviewed
by the Columbia Planning and
Zoning Commission this fall.
The ordinance would propose:
Q the outer road on the west
side of Providence be official-
ly named “Providence Outer
Road;”
Q the outer road on the east
side of Providence, north of
Green Meadows Road, be offi-
cially named “Carter Lane;”
Q the outer road on the east
side of Providence, south of
Green Meadows, be officially
named “Buttonwood Drive.”
Teddy estimated that more
than 100 properties would have
to change their addresses if
the ordinance passes. Before it
is drafted, however, property
owners will be notified of the
potential name changes.
“We wouldn’t even expect
folks all to sign off on the
change, but we would like them
to have the opportunity to give
input,” Teddy said.
Properties on the Providence
Road corridor such as Jimmy’s
Family Steakhouse have “South
Providence” addresses, but if
the ordinance passes, the 20-
year-old restaurant would have
a “Providence Outer Road” ad-
dress. Owner Jimmy Aslanidis
said that even though he would
prefer not to change, having the
word “Providence” in his new
address would be important.
“We might as well leave it
like it is, but if it isn’t a dra-
matic change like black and
white, then it isn’t too bad,”
Aslanidis said. “People know
us as being on the outer road of
Providence, so we already kind
of use it.”
Angelo’s Pizza and Steak- ly in the cardinal directions
house, which has been at its from that,” Teddy said. “That
South Providence address since is ground zero for addressing,
1991, is another restaurant that and we’re trying to make it
would be affected and would that way through the whole
need to change its address county for 911 purposes.”
to “Providence Outer Road.” The Public Works and Fire
Owner Angelo Skyvalidas said departments, as well as the
that he would need to talk to Joint Communications and
his neighbors and find out their Information Center, have
feelings on the potential name been involved in discussions
change, but that an address about naming the streets. Zim
change is not at the forefront Schwartze, interim director
of his mind right now. for Joint Communications, said
According to Teddy, many the situation is a problem.
of the affected properties are “It is not only about sending
on the west side of Providence personnel to wrong locations
Road, and the “trade-off” of but also a lack of understanding
the ordinance is that the word from a caller or lack of com-
“Providence” would remain in mon nomenclature between
their addresses. The ordinance dispatcher and caller because
also falls under a bigger plan to this can make the response
improve public safety county- time longer,” she said. “It also
wide. helps citizens coming to our
“Addresses are all based on city, so you don’t have to be
a geographic grid that starts from Columbia to know South
at Garth and Broadway, and Providence is part of the outer
you just number consecutive- roads.”